Transit Group Wants a Bus Route to La Guardia to Be Labeled a Free Ride

Travelers bound for La Guardia Airport boarding the Q70 express bus at the Roosevelt Avenue-74th Street subway station in Queens on Wednesday. A rider advocacy group wants the bus renamed the "Free La Guardia Subway Shuttle."Credit
Andrew Renneisen for The New York Times

It is a frustration shared by many New Yorkers, not to mention many visitors to the city: You cannot take the subway to La Guardia Airport.

So this week more than a few holiday travelers headed to La Guardia have climbed into taxis, enduring slow traffic and sizable fares. But transit groups say there is a better way.

Meet the Q70, a city bus that travels nonstop to the airport from the busy Roosevelt Avenue-74th Street subway station, where the E, F, M, R and 7 lines all stop. From Midtown Manhattan, the subway and bus trip can take less than an hour (and cost just the standard $2.75 fare). But many would-be riders have never heard of the route.

Some travelers already swear by a route the Riders Alliance calls New York’s “best-kept secret.” One afternoon this week, more than a dozen people stood holding luggage at the Q70 stop outside the Roosevelt Avenue-74th Street station in Jackson Heights.

Laramie Flick, 38, said he took the bus to save money, but he was running late for a flight to Oregon to visit family. As the bus raced down the highway, he exhaled.

“My stress level is coming down quickly as we speed past the side streets,” said Mr. Flick, a pedicab operator who lives in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn.

For all of La Guardia’s proximity to Manhattan, the absence of easy mass transit connections has long been one of the many knocks against the airport, which Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. likened to something a traveler might find in a “third world country.” This year, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said the airport, operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, would be rebuilt. As part of the reconstruction, estimated to cost $4 billion, a rail link would be built to the Willets Point subway station.

In the meantime, the transportation authority has been making improvements, though with less fanfare than transit advocates would like to see.

The Q70 was one effort. Introduced two years ago, the line replaced a slower route that had more local stops.

John Raskin, the executive director of the Riders Alliance, said most Q70 passengers already made free transfers from the subway, so making the bus line free would not cost the authority much money, and any losses would be offset by the increased number of people riding the subway to the Q70.

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To work, Mr. Raskin said, the route needs a makeover. The line has to have dedicated buses that are easily distinguished from other local buses, he said.

“The way it’s currently branded is a missed opportunity to make clear that the bus is a convenient and quick option,” he said. “Public transit from the airport should be easy, intuitive and something that New Yorkers or visitors could understand.”

At the authority’s board meeting this month, officials said they were considering the airport shuttle proposal. The vice chairman, Fernando Ferrer, said the agency should look at changing the way the bus was advertised.

Darryl Irick, the head of the authority’s bus operations, said of the group’s recommendations, “We have a pretty open mind about it.”

Not long ago, a spokesman for the authority, Kevin Ortiz, dismissed the idea. If ridership on the Q70 increased, Mr. Ortiz said last month, it would cost the agency too much money to provide additional service.

The authority has been criticized as being resistant to change. After the board meeting, the chairman, Thomas F. Prendergast, told reporters he recently sent a memorandum to the staff saying it was the board’s responsibility to consider ideas from outside groups.

“I was reminding staff of the importance to take a look at any and all proposals that come across the threshold from a standpoint of: ‘Does it make sense to do? Is it within our purview and can we make it work?’ ” Mr. Prendergast said.

Among travelers, a free La Guardia shuttle held predictable appeal.

Ashley Ison, 31, a pharmacist visiting from Texas who waited in line for a taxi at La Guardia this week, said she would consider taking the bus if it saved money. “I’d probably do it; I’m not exactly sure how much this is going to cost,” she said, pointing toward the taxi.

Marianne Schubert, 66, a psychologist who lives in North Carolina, said that when she came to New York to visit her brother, she had always taken the bus to and from La Guardia.

“I’ve saved a lot of money over the years by taking this bus,” she said.

A version of this article appears in print on December 24, 2015, on Page A15 of the New York edition with the headline: Group Says M.T.A. Should Waive Fares on Express Bus to La Guardia . Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe